Race:Skull Kid

Skull Kid is a playable race on Hyrule Castle. As one of the nine uncommon races, a player must either be a Veteran, or acquire a Race License specifically for this race to create a Skull Kid character. As one of the "monster" races, beings of this race are traditionally abhorred by Hylians, may be attacked on sight, and are generally not allowed anywhere near the settlements in Northern Hyrule, nor in Ruto.

Canonically, Skull Kids debuted in Ocarina of Time, and have since made reappearances in Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess.

Character Creation Brief

Despite that they are children of the forest akin to the Kokiri, the tales of Skull Kids are often melancholy. When a child wanders for days on end in the Lost Woods, helplessly lost and unable to support themselves, they will inevitably die of thirst, or worse yet, be the meal of a feral beast. For better or worse, these children do not die there. Through an unknown and mysterious force of magic, they are transformed by into an undead shell of their former body: a Skull Kid.

Upon their mysterious reanimation after death, Skull Kids bear resemblance to scarecrows the size of children. As undead children, they never age, never consume food or fluid, and have no desire to make themselves vulnerable by sleeping. Despite who or what a Skull Kid was in its former life, his or her old body itself is completely gone, replaced by this new entity. Rarely will an individual afflicted by this curse remember anything more than that they were wandering this forest for as long as they can remember... and unless they are particularly fortunate, they will now continue to wander it, lost, for years to follow.

The few Skull Kids which do manage to escape this prison will come to a Hyrule they can at best vaguely remember, and which cannot remember them. Though they are sentient creatures with respectable intelligence, if the maturity of a child, Skull Kids are often feared as monsters due to their mysterious nature and ghastly appearance. Unsurprisingly, the immature minds of Skull Kids often begin to rebuke society as a result, becoming loners or outcasts, thieves or tricksters, with their only true home being the solitude of a forest.

A Skull Kid begins with a PWC of 1/2/2. This starting PWC can be defied by using the Exception racial perk during character creation.

A Skull Kid has an innate racial perk called Undead, which represents its unusual state of non-living animation. In addition to this, a Skull Kid character can have up to three additional racial perks of choice. Aside from the general perks available to every race, a Skull Kid can also choose from:

• Deku Leaf: a useful item which can be used as a parachute to glide, or be swung to create a magically powerful gust
• Heart of the Forest: a trait which makes it easier to acquire Forest-based treasures
• Leaf Puppet: a spell which, when cast, summons a wooden marionette to defend the Skull Kid
• Leaf Warp: a spell which enables the Skull Kid to teleport a short distance to a predetermined spot; unlike most perks, this requires two racial perk "slots"
• Navigation: a trait which functions as an internal compass, enabling the Skull Kid to maneuver in spite of mazes, illusions, or other hindrances to the senses

Recommended Origin

If you've never made a Skull Kid character before, this example origin may provide inspiration for your character.

Leaf-Magician

Whatever you once were, as a Skull Kid Leaf-Magician, you’ve found yourself to possess a strange affinity to leaves. You can utilize them for all manner of tricks, from puppeteering to teleportation. Perhaps another Skull Kid taught you, or perhaps your sole company has been your leaf puppets. Escaping the Woods will be a difficult task for you, but should you accomplish it, your leaves will serve you in good stead.

A Skull Kid of this origin with a PWC of 1/2/2. Its racial perks include Undead, Deku Leaf, Leaf Puppet, and Leaf Warp.

Guided Savant

Through years of wandering the mystical landscape of the Lost Woods, you have become attuned to the bizarre magic that swirls through this forest. This bizarre energy now seem to aid you rather than hinder you. The forests' twisting paths unfold within your mind’s eye, taking you exactly where you wish to go rather than sending you in circles. Perhaps you’ve already left and visited the outside world--or perhaps you even reside outside the Lost Woods, in a welcoming environment like the Monster Village or Ikana. Regardless of your location, it seem the Lost Woods will always remain in your mind, guiding you to your destination like a beacon.

A Skull Kid of this origin with a PWC of 1/2/2. Its racial perks include Undead, Heart of the Forest, Leaf Warp, and Navigation.

Physiology

Not even Skull Kids know where they come from, although most if not all of them originate in the depths of the Lost Woods. Like Stalfos, they need never eat nor sleep nor drink nor breathe, although some seem to enjoy emulating these behaviors. Skull Kids never age nor sicken either, and seem to live indefinitely unless killed by some third party or an accident. Also like Stalfos, Skull Kids seldom remember their former lives, although they display childish personalities and seem to retain some aspects of who they were before death.

Skull Kids appear as a bizarre union of a scarecrow and a Stalfos. Animated by unknown means, but no more alive for that fact, Skull Kids are in many ways more like golems than living beings. No matter what race a Skull Kid belonged to before its untimely demise, they appear as scarecrows with a height akin to Kokiri and flesh of straw or cloth. Straw Skull Kids may display prominent beaks, like Rito, while cloth Skull Kids have disturbingly wide mouths lined with sharp teeth. Their eyes vary, but are usually either glow or appear painted on. Some say the appearance a Skull Kid takes depends on its race--such as a Rito always becoming a beaked variant. Others say it has to do with personality, and more say it's simply random. Skull Kids themselves infrequently seem to care about their origins, or their former life.

Fitting with their scarecrow motif, Skull Kids almost always manifest garbed in clothing reminiscent of, well, scarecrows, though nothing seems to stop them from changing their clothes later. Many who remain in the Lost Woods retain these clothes for eternity.

Oddly enough, Skull Kids do seem to have bones and something which resemble other internal organs. It is unknown how much purpose, if any, these actually serve.

Culture and History

Skull Kids are unique in that literally no one seems to know how they are made, nor how long they may have existed. Not even the wisest Wizzrobes nor the most elite of Ganon's forces have ever been able to successfully create one via magical means, though they certainly don't follow the laws of any organic creature either. Skull Kids themselves never seem to remember their creation, just as no organic being remembers its birth either.

There exist several different theories or beliefs as to how they are created, but proof has not been found for any. The most common myth is that Kokiri, and the children of some other races, who lose their way into the Lost Woods become cursed by them. These cursed children transform into Skull Kids, losing their memories in the process. They persist in undeath so they are forced to wander the woods as children forever, unable to be free. It is true that many children have gone missing in the Lost Woods, but that seems to be the only correlation. In this theory, the same magic which permeates the woods to make them so confusing is the same which causes this transformation--whether that be an unintended consequence of some great spell gone awry, or the willful act of some cruel manipulator. It is known some Skull Kids manage to escape the woods, however, so either this curse is not completely effective or nor the true origin of Skull Kids.

Since most civilized peoples consider Skull Kids ghastly at best, they are seldom found in the company of the living. A rare few pop up in locales such as the Monster Village or Ikana, but most will never leave the Lost Woods--whether it is because they cannot escape at all or because they choose not to. Skull Kids are generally not opposed to each other’s company, but are not known to form actual settlements or communities, and Skull Kid gatherings seldom exceed even six in number.

As one might expect, the demeanor of a Skull Kid can be seen as very childish. Their days are supposedly spent finding ways to have fun in their woods, often by playing simple instruments made from wood and grass. Known to be inherently mischievous, Skull Kids are prone to playing tricks on any they come across, either in the forest elsewhere. The race as a whole is known to be particularly wary of those they perceive to be adults--outright attacking them on occasion, though seemingly to drive them away rather than kill them. Comparatively, they seem to be more trusting of children both inside and outside of the Woods, and are liable to want to play games with those perceived as their kin.